We are going on in chapter 6.  We are at verse 15.  We have been looking at choices.  How we can respond to God’s grace - the relevancy of the gospel - the choices we can make to respond to God’s grace in the real time of our lives.

To help our grey matter come up to speed on making choices we have a short quiz.  We’re in an election season.  Yes?  So, some multiple guess questions about US Presidents.

#1 - Which president was the first to be inaugurated in Washington D.C.?

A. John Adams

B. Thomas Jefferson

C. James Madison

D. George Washington

Answer:  B - Thomas Jefferson

#2 - Which president’s inaugural was the first to be covered by telegraph?

A. William Harrison

B. Abraham Lincoln

C. James Polk

D. Ulysses Grant

Answer:  C - James Polk

#3 - Which president gave the shortest inaugural address?

A. Calvin Coolidge

B. George Washington

C. Martin Van Buren

D. John Adams

Answer:  B - George Washington - his second inauguration - 135 words - lasted 2 minutes. 

#4 - Which president had the first inaugural parade?

A. Thomas Jefferson

B. James Madison

C. John Quincy Adams

D. Millard Fillmore

Answer:  B - James Madison

Last one - #5 - Which president was the oldest to be inaugurated?

A. William Harrison

B. Warren Harding

C. John Kennedy

D. Ronald Reagan

Answer:  D - Ronald Reagan - 69 years old.

Every day we’re confronted with a plethora of choices.  Some choices are seemingly not so serious.  Some choices have life changing implications.  Some are no-brainers.  Some require a lot of deep consideration.

Behind every choice we make is one basic bottom line choice.  Which is what?  The choice to stay focused away from God - spinning off into our own ideas and efforts at things.  Or, the choice to turn towards God - to seek Him - to trust Him with our lives and circumstances - to turn towards God and all that He has for us in life. 

Here in Romans chapters 6 to 8 we’re looking at how that basic bottom line choice works out in the real time of where we live our lives.

Let’s jump into Romans 6. 

What then?  Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace?  By no means!

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 

I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations.  For just as you once presented your members as slave to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.  But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?

For the end of those things is death.  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Okay.  Let’s do some unpacking.  Verse 15 is where Paul is going.

Romans 6 - verse 15:  What then?  Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace?  By no means!

Grace is what?  God’s undeserved favor towards us.

While we’re living in rebellion against God - hopelessly living in the stench of our own sin - not even seeking after God - God sends Jesus to the cross to die for us - in our place - to deal with whatever is broken in our relationship with God.  Why?  Because God - for God only knows reasons - God chooses to demonstrate His grace by doing what we could never earn or measure up to or do for ourselves.  

Grace is God’s... undeserved favor towards us. 

Every day of our lives we have a choice of how to respond to God’s grace - to stay focused on ourselves and our sin - or to turn towards God and His grace.

In what we looked at last Sunday - 6:1-14 - Paul wrote about our need to realize how gracious God has been to us.  A realization based on the facts of Who Jesus is and what He’s done and what we experience in our lives because of God’s grace poured out on us.  When we let all that sink into the core of who we are - let our hears marinate in that truth - that realization should make the choice of turning towards God a no brainer.

If we’ve chosen to turn our lives over to God - to trust Jesus as our Savior - with all that God has saved us from - looking at Jesus and all that God offers us through Him - why would we ever choose to turn back to our sin.  Why would we ever choose to not turn towards God?

Paul writes - to choose to go on sinning - after having experienced God’s grace - poured out on us - making the choice to turn away from God’s grace - that makes no sense.  Its like an animal rights advocate working in a slaughterhouse.

Paul writes, “By no means!”  In the Greek its more passionate.

Do you remember the Greek from last Sunday?  In Greek it’s “Meh genoito.”  Try that with me.  “Meh genoito.”  It has the idea “May it never come to be.” 

If God has been so outrageously gracious to us are to we go on sinning?  By no means!  No how.  No way.  Ain’t gonna happen.

And yet - if we’re honest with ourselves - the reality is - even though we know that God is gracious to us - the reality is that we do go on sinning.  Every day of our lives we stumble around in sin.  “May it never be!”  Often times it is.  True?  Yes?

Last Sunday Paul focused on our mind-set - making up our minds to choose to stay focused on God.  In the verses we’re coming to this morning Paul is going to help us to live out that choice.  In the day-to-day stuff or life living what we know to be true about God’s grace.

To help us cement our focus on God, Paul is going to give us three truths about sin and grace.  

As we look at these you’ll see that they focus on the extremes of sin and the awesomeness of grace.  Point being that these three truths should jog us out of our complacency with sin - to realize the seriousness of what we’re allowing into our lives - to make the choice of turning towards God a no brainer in the day to day way we’re living our lives.

Verse 16 - Truth number one - sin and grace:  Sin Enslaves us.

Verse 16:  Do you not know - which is rhetorical - do you not know - and we do know it - it’s true - that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 

Let’s pause and make sure we’re all together.

“To present” is the Greek verb “paristemi” which means... “to present.”   To place ourselves in front of someone - front and center - ready for duty.  Our members - verse 19 - our members are our hands, feet, tongues, ears - our body parts - and even deeper - the heart level core of who we are.

“Presenting ourselves” is physically bringing everything that we are - bringing ourselves each day of our lives - offering ourselves to someone or something - to do - to live out - whatever that person or thing wills for us to do.

“We know” is the Greek verb “oida” - meaning knowing something because we’ve studied it.  It’s a Dragnet moment.  “Just the facts mam.”  It’s reality 101.

Point being:  We know that it is a proven incontrovertible self-evident reality - if we choose to present ourselves to anyone or anything as obedient slaves - we become slaves of that person or that thing.

Going on - verse 17:  But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed - meaning your choosing to follow Jesus - your commitment to living the gospel - and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.  I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations - because of the day-to-day of where you live your lives - For just as you once presented your members - daily showing up for duty - as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Let’s be clear on Paul’s extremes of sin and grace.

“impurity” - in Greek is a word that means ceremonially unclean.  Serving ham at a synagogue pot luck.  It’s so outrageously far away from God’s standard of what’s useful to Him - what’s holy and clean before God - so full of sin - that its impure.  Impure - ungodly - unholy - completely separate from God.

“lawlessness” - in Greek has the idea of living without respect for authority.  The ungodly trinity of me, myself, and I.  I am the final authority for how I choose to live my life.  Life is all about me.

Which - Paul writes - leads to more lawlessness.  The example of which is all around us - a society focused on self and coming apart at the seams. 

The bottom line truth of that - why that is true - is because sin enslaves us.

Have you seen Ben Hur?  Charlton Heston - Judah ben Hur falsely imprisoned for the murder of a Roman official - is assigned as a slave - a rower - on a Roman war ship.  Watch this and think about sin enslaving us. 

(Video:  Ben Hur). 

Quick backstory.  Just before this scene Quintus Arius - the commander of the fleet - shares these words of encouragement to the rowers:  “You are all condemned men.  We keep you alive to serve this ship.  So row well... and live.”

The day you stop rowing you’re fish chow.  The only purpose for you being alive is to serve the ship.  Endlessly rowing to the beat of that drum - day after day.  Whatever life there was before being captured or imprisoned - whatever life there was apart from being a slave - from serving that ship - no longer matters.  No longer exists.  It becomes impossible to imagine anything else.  Existence is all about serving that ship.

That’s slavery.  When we sin - even little sins - when we choose to present who we are to sin - when we choose to live in what is separate from God - to live focused on our own self-will - Paul writes - we place ourselves under that kind of bondage.

It’s a self-evident incontrovertible fact of life.  If we choose to present ourselves to anyone or anything as obedient slaves - we become slaves of that person or that thing.  So it is with sin.

Sin deludes us into thinking that we’re in control.  That we can play at sin - giving in to our little indulgences - and still remain in control of our lives.  So sin entices us.  Sin becomes attractive - familiar.  The more we sin the more we long for more sin.  Still thinking we’re in control.  So sin always binds us in ways we aren’t even aware of.

Try to imagine life without sin.  Some sins seem so much a part of us - our language or thoughts or what we expose ourselves to - how we view ourselves or others - some sins are so familiar that we don’t even realize we’re sinning.  We’re so captivated - bound - in our sin.

Let’s be honest.  Most of us don’t think in those kinds of extremes.  Which is why we need Paul’s 2X4 of reality.  Because while our brain may not go there.  That extreme exists - very much a part of every act of our sin.

Sin enslaves us.  But Grace Frees Us. 

Paul writes in verse 19:  For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members - make the choice to present yourselves - as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Sanctification - meaning God changing us - enabling us to live life with Him - to live life the way life should lived.  God - by grace - making that possible - reality in our lives.  

Do you know who this man is?  Alexander Solzhenitsyn.  A man - who from first hand experience - introduced us to the horrors - the dehumanizing - soviet prison camps of Siberia.

I’ve read that just before a photographer took a picture of Alexander Solzhenitsyn - a photograph that appeared in the 50th Anniversary of Life Magazine - the photographer asked Solzhenitsyn what he liked about America.  Solzhenitsyn pressed his hand against his chest - sighed deeply - lifted his head towards the heaven - and answered:  “Because you can be free.” (1)  

You ever get tired of winter?  The cold.  The rain.  The fog.  The bare trees.  Just the general gloominess of it.  Those of you that have lived in the mid-west - ever get tired of snow?  Sometimes - in the dead of winter - it seems like winter is all there is - all there ever was - all there ever will be.  Narnia with 100 years of winter under bondage to the White Witch.

Then spring hits.  Buds and flowers.  Warmth that penetrates.  Getting dried out.  It just feels good.

It’s like giving up cigarettes and realizing how just devastating all that was to our  bodies.  How much money was wasted on what was killing us  Giving up drugs and realizing how devastating they are to the mind.  To begin to live outside of the fog - the need - the deception.  Not living in the shame and fear of addiction to pornography.  Having a body that functions properly because we turned from addiction to food and shed what weights us down.

Sin tells us we can’t be free.  You will always be bound.  Always enslaved.  Always trapped.  Always condemned.  Which is a lie. 

When we choose to present our members - ourselves - as slaves of righteousness - we experience something totally different.  A spring.  A freeing change in our lives where we begin to realize just how deluded - how bound - we were to sin.  We begin to realize how different - how incredible it is to live life in God’s grace - the extreme of the freedom God graciously offers us.

Sin enslaves us.  Grace frees us.  Paul’s second truth about sin and grace is that Sin Produces Shame.

Verse 20:  For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 

Before we became a Christian we could sin all we wanted to.  And we couldn’t of cared less about God and all His boundaries on our lives.  All His expectations.  In a sense, life was easier without God.  Now we gotta live righteous. 

Verse 21:  But what fruit - what benefit - were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?  For the end of those things is death.

A few years back Natalie Dylan announced on the Howard Stern Show that she was auctioning off her virginity.  The highest bid was reported at  $3.8 million.

Miss Dylan said, “I feel people should be pro-choice with their body, and I'm not hurting anyone.  It really comes down to a moral and religious argument, and this doesn’t go against my religion or my morals.  There’s no right or wrong to this.” (2)

Doesn’t that sound like a lot of reasoning these days?

What does it matter who I’m having sex with?  Why does it matter if we’re married or if we’re just living together?  What does it matter what I watch in the privacy of my own home.  Or, what thoughts I’ve got floating around in my head?  What does it matter what I think or say about so and so.  All that’s a private thing.

If we think that sin is just a private thing that we just do by ourselves - or with consenting adults - look around - even here.  There is person after person in this room - including myself - that will tell you from experience that sin never happens in isolation.  It always has an effect way beyond what we’d like to believe.  And if you don’t believe us - look around Merced and see the brokenness.

I read this poem in a sermon by Ray Steadman.

I said a very naughty word only the other day.

It was a truly naughty word I had not meant to say.

But then, it was not really lost, when from my lips it flew;

My little brother picked it up, and now he says it, too. (3)

Sin never happens in isolation.

Sin is why marriages are coming apart.  Why children are having babies.  Why men are having babies with different women - and children are growing up without their fathers.  Why whole communities are trapped in devastating downwards spirals of immorality and poverty and crime and violence.  Sin is why little girls are kidnapped off America’s streets and sold into slavery as objects of lust - or worse.  Sin is why so many of us are wounded and broken - desperate for grace.

Sin never happens in isolation.

Paul writes in Galatians 6:  “Do not be deceived:  God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption - a putrefying mess.  (Galatians 6:7,8a)

What goes around - what?  Comes around.  And it ain’t pretty.

Sin is what has Adam and Eve hiding in shame - fearing God who is righteous and holy.  Sin is what through Adam has devastated humanity.

What benefit do we get from all that?  From what we excuse even though we know that isn’t exactly what God desires for us.  What is the wonderful admirable fruit produced by our sin?  Sin produces in us and through us shameful disgraceful attitudes and actions that are dishonorable - that degrade us - that bind us with feelings of fear and failure.  That keep us back from following after God.  Devastation in our lives and in others around us.

Sin produces shame.  But Grace Produces Fruit.  Good fruit.  Godly fruit of great benefit.

Paul goes on in Galatians 6:  “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”  (Galatians 6:8)

Graciously - God is honest with us about the extreme devastation of sin.  And God graciously offers us the choice of what is extremely better.

So many people get to the end of their lives - look back - and see only what was fruitless.  Facing the end they try vainly to somehow leave a legacy - to find purpose in what was so empty.  To stare into eternity with uncertainty and fear.

Far greater than anything else in life is the privilege of being known by God and of knowing God.  Of salvation - being made right before God.  Of having the Holy Spirit dwell within us - transforming us - empowering us.  Of being able to serve God and live for Him because of His work in us and through us - living lives that bring glory to Him.

To live life so that when we’re done we’ll know that we’ve done everything God has asked of us.  We’ve lived as Godly men or women in our homes and community.  Where we work.  In Christ’s church.  Wherever He’s called us to live for Him.  That we’ve remained faithful to His purposes for our lives.

If we want to make a difference in life - a meaningful difference in the lives of those we live life with - to have our lives count for something - to bear fruit for now and forever - we need to choose to present our members to God and watch the extreme awesomeness of what God the Holy Spirit will do in us and through us.

Sin enslaves us.  Grace frees us.  Sin produces shame.  Grace produces fruit.  Paul’s third truth about sin and grace is that Sin Demands Death. 

Verse 21 - at the end:  For the end of those things is death.  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end eternal life.  For the wages of sin is - what? death, but the free gift of God is - what? eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Two trajectories through life.  Trajectory one is away… from God.  Eternal death forever without God - forever torment - punishment - forever in an extremely nasty - don’t ever go there - place.

Trajectory number two is towards… God.  Eternal life forever with God.  All the crud of this world will be no more.  Forever experiencing an extreme awesomeness that we can’t begin to get a grip on now.  Forever dwelling with God in a - not to be missed - place.

When we take up residence in the park with place markers - when they close the casket lid and throw 6 feet of dirt on top of us - when things tend to get a little dark.

At death - the outcome - our trajectory - up or down - has already been decided by the choice we’ve made in life to trust Jesus as our Savior.  If we haven’t trusted Jesus as our Savior - what we earn by our sin - what we get paid for our sin - is eternal death.  But, if we’ve trusted Jesus as our Savior we know we have eternal life with God.

We’re together?

Sin demands death.  Grace gives life.

When we choose to sin - even as bound for heaven believers - we’re choosing to cling onto those things that lead to death.  Sin is self-destructive behavior.  When we choose to present ourselves to God - to cling on to Him - we live in the life that Jesus offers us now - and goes forever.

Sin enslaves us.  Sin produces shame.  Sin demands death.  But - grace sets us free.  Grace produces real fruit in our lives.  Grace gives life - now and forever.

Processing all that...  Anyone know who this is?  Back in 1979 - Bob Dylan released his Christian album - “Slow Train Coming.”  One of the songs on that album - believe it or not - is really the bottom line of what Paul is getting at here.

You may be an ambassador to England or France,

You might like to gamble, you might like to dance,

You might be the heavyweight champion of the world,

You might be a socialite with a long string of pearls.

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher preaching spiritual pride,

Might be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,

You may be working in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,

You may be somebody’s mistress, you may be somebody’s heir.

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,

Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,

You might be sleeping on the floor, or sleeping in a king-size bed,

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.   Yes, indeed.

You’re gonna have to serve somebody.

It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord.

But, you’re gonna have to serve somebody. (4)

Bottom line question:  Who are you choosing to serve?

Here’s a huge blessing of God to grab on to and hang on to.  None of us is really good at living what we know to be true.  We all mess up.  But God by His grace promises to forgive, heal, and empower us to get back up and live according to His free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus.

If we really do at the heart level believe the gospel is true - that God is gracious - if we’ve made that mental choice of turning of our lives over to Him - then we need to make every moment choices about how we will live and process life.  To evaluate - by the choice we’ve made - the choices we make.

Is this - attitude or action - keeping me focused on God or focused away from Him?  Is this leading me towards God or away from Him?  Is this being obedient to God or disobedient?  Is this acting in faith or trusting myself?  Does this strengthen my faith or weaken it?  Is this setting me on fire for God or pouring water on the Holy Spirit?  Is this pure or impure? 

Does this help me to be salt and light or tasteless and dark.  Does this build the Body of Christ or tear it down?  Does this proclaim the gospel or discredit it?  Is this leading others to Jesus or pushing them away?  Does this advance Kingdom or retard its progress?  Is my life really about God or is about me?

Presenting our members is a mental choice that results in our physically showing up.  Living what we know to be true.  Which is Paul’s challenge - his passionate encouragement - to us here in these verses.  Who are we going to serve?  If we really believe that sin is a horror and that God is gracious then our actions and attitudes should demonstrate that belief.

_______________

1. Harry Benson, Their Own Choice, Life Magazine, Fall 1986

2. CNN.com, Elizabeth Landau, What Is Virginity Worth Today?, 01.22.09

3. Ray Stedman, Whose Slave Are You?  Sermon on Romans 6:15-23

4. Bob Dylan, Gotta Serve Somebody, from Slow Train Coming, 08.20.1079

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®  (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.